Jim LaneWill the new fermentation technologies
completely shatter
preconceptions about biofuels and bio-based products – and redefine the
way in which Western Civ approaches the production of fuel, food, feed,
and fiber? The new Brew Barons are working hard to make that so.

LanzaTech

The LanzaTech process increases industrial energy efficiency by
capturing waste gases (CO, CO2) and converting them to valuable fuels
and chemicals. LanzaTech provides an opportunity to produce large
volumes of low carbon fuel and chemicals at low costs using a countries
own resources, reducing dependence on foreign imports and GHG
footprint. Simply utilizing the available steel mill waste gases,
LanzaTech could produce more than 30 billion gallons of ethanol per
year. This would have a significant impact on the global energy
landscape.

Two weeks ago, LanzaTech signed a memorandum of understanding with
Posco, a Korean conglomerate with interests in steel, power, energy,
engineering and construction, to convert the steel maker’s flue gases
to ethanol and other value added products. LanzaTech uses its gas
fermentation technology to produce ethanol and also 2,3-Butanediol
(2,3-BD), a key building block used to make polymers, plastics and
hydrocarbon fuels. It has investment from K1W1 (New Zealand), Khosla
Ventures (US) and Qiming Venures (China) as well as funding from the
New Zealand and US governments.

LanzaTech CEO Jennifer Holmgren commented, “This means that
LanzaTech is now working with 2 of the top 5 global steel manufacturers
(some would say the #2/3). From my perspective this shows the traction
that the LanzaTech technology is receiving in the market place and the
potential impact that our technology is likely to have in the coming
years. We are creating a nice pipeline of commercial projects so
that
as we get to scale – we don’t do it one commercial production facility
at a time but multiple commercial production facilities in parallel
with a variety of partners globally.”

In January, IndianOil and LanzaTech signed a Memorandum of
Understanding to collaborate on a demonstration of LanzaTech’s
proprietary gas fermentation technology collaboration in a technology
demonstration at one of the India Oil refineries. that will enable
IndianOil to produce fuel grade ethanol.

LS9

The cryptically-named LS9 uses a e.coli-based fermentation to
convert of renewable plant biomass into advanced biofuels that are
drop-in compatible with the existing infrastructure. The same
technology platform enables the production of a diversity of high-value
chemicals.

Last month, LS9 announced the initiation of a second development and
commercialization partnership with Procter & Gamble. This
additional partnership draws on LS9’s unique technology to broaden the
portfolio of renewable chemicals to be used in P&G’s consumer
products. It followed a $30M series D financing round led by BlackRock
that came just as the company reached #4 in this year’s 50 Hottest
Companies in Bioenergy.

In 2010, LS9 announced a major scientific breakthrough that will
significantly lower the cost of producing “drop‐in” hydrocarbon fuels
that are low‐carbon, sustainable and compatible with the existing fuel
distribution infrastructure. This breakthrough has allowed LS9 to
accelerate its technology and demonstrate alkane production at pilot
scale.

In the article “Microbial Biosynthesis of Alkanes” published in
Science
magazine, a team of LS9 scientists announce the discovery of novel
genes that, when expressed in E.coli, produce alkanes, the primary
hydrocarbon components of gasoline, diesel and jet fuel. This discovery
is the first description of the genes responsible for alkane
biosynthesis and the first example of a single step conversion of sugar
to fuel‐grade alkanes by an engineered microorganism.

Mascoma

The unique technology developed by Mascoma Corporation uses yeast
and bacteria that are engineered to produce large quantities of the
enzymes necessary to break down the cellulose and ferment the resulting
sugars into ethanol. Combining these two steps (enzymatic
digestion
and fermentation) significantly reduces costs by eliminating the need
for enzyme produced in a separate refinery. This process, called
Consolidated Bioprocessing or “CBP”, will ultimately enable the
conversion of the solar energy contained in plants to ethanol in just a
few days.

In January, Mascoma announced that Valero Energy has joined as
an
investor in the company. Further, Mascoma, Valero, and Mascoma’s
operating subsidiary, Frontier Renewable Resources, (jointly owned with
J.M. Longyear) have signed a non-binding letter of intent to support
the construction of Mascoma’s 40 million gallon cellulosic ethanol
plant in Kinross, Michigan. Groundbreaking on the project is
slated
for later this year.

Under the terms of the letter of intent, Valero would potentially
invest up to $50 million of the equity required to finance the project
through Frontier Kinross LLC, a subsidiary of Frontier, and would enter
into an off-take agreement for the project’s ethanol
production. As
further support of the project, Valero will provide project development
and construction oversight services.

Frontier will use hardwood pulpwood, which is selectively harvested,
naturally regenerated, and is an underutilized, abundant resource in
the area surrounding the Kinross biorefinery. Mascoma’s 200,000 gallons
of cellulosic ethanol per year demonstration facility in Rome, New
York, has demonstrated the viability of the technology over the past
two years and sets the stage for the commercial facility.

Mascoma recently announced the acquisition of SunOpta BioProcess
Inc. (SBI), a world-leading fiber preparation and pretreatment company,
creating a company with comprehensive capabilities for converting
non-food cellulose (wood chips, energy crops and organic solid waste)
into ethanol and high value co-products. With the addition of SBI and
Valero, Mascoma has now covered the entire process of commercializing
cellulosic ethanol, from raw materials supply, to pre-processing,
through Mascoma’s CBP process and into final distribution.

Novozymes’ core technology for the biofuels industry is enzymes that
break down different types of feedstock into fermentable sugars for
conversion into ethanol. Within this area, Novozymes develops
solutions for two distinct types of ethanol technology: cellulosic
ethanol and starch-based ethanol.

Novozymes cellulosic ethanol work is the largest endeavor the
company has ever undertaken, with over 150 scientists dedicated to the
effort. Not only is Novozymes’ developing and offering the
leading
enzyme solutions for cellulosic ethanol technology, but we have also
expanded our research focus into optimizing the pretreatment,
hydrolysis and fermentation process steps.

In 2010 Novozymes launched the first commercially viable enzyme for
the cellulosic ethanol industry, Cellic® Ctec2. The 1.8X
average
performance improvement over a variety of feedstocks is enabling our
partners to reach a commercially viable enzyme cost window and overall
production costs. We have also worked with many of our partners
to
help optimize their process technology in order to lower enzyme use
cost and find the right balance in process tradeoffs to lower capital
and operating costs.

As the world leader in bioinnovation, Novozymes produces enzymes
that optimize the conversion of grains such as corn, barley, wheat and
other starch raw materials into ethanol. Unrivalled in their
performance and ease of use, our enzymes enable higher yields, faster
throughput and lower processing costs. Our tailored solutions –
including custom enzyme blends – match the specific needs of our
customers’ processes for liquefaction, saccharification, fermentation
enhancement, and viscosity reduction.

OPX Biotechnologies

OPXBIO is a Colorado-based company using biotechnology to convert
renewable raw materials into biochemicals and biofuels. Applying its
proprietary EDGE™ (Efficiency Directed Genome Engineering) technology,
it will manufacture bio-based products that are more economical and
sustainable than petroleum-based alternatives.

OPXBIO’s first product will be bioacrylic, which will be the
chemical equivalent of petroleum-based acrylic, which is currently an
$8 billion market that is growing at 4% per year. OPXBIO intends to
produce bioacrylic at a lower cost ($0.50/lb) than petroleum-based
($0.65 – 0.75/lb today) and will commercialize bioacrylic through a
joint venture with the first plant being operational in 2014.

OPXBIO’s second product is biodiesel, which it is working on through
a $6 million grant from the U.S. DOE ARPA-E program. The company is
partnered with the National Renewable Energy Lab (NREL) and Johnson
Matthey to biologically produce biodiesel through fermentation from
carbon dioxide and renewable hydrogen.

OPXBIO’s EDGE technology allows it to optimize the microbe and
bioprocess 1,000 to 5,000 times faster than traditional genome or
microbial engineering, and it is extremely robust allowing OPXBIO to
work on multiple products and utilize numerous feed stocks.

POET

POET doesn’t get enough attention for its market-leading efforts in
deploying enzyme-based cellulosic ethanol. Its 25 Mgy Project LIBERTY
complex, which is now scheduled to commence construction in early 2012,
awaits the outcome of a loan guarantee application from the DOE. But
POET has been a leader in pushing the limits of fermentation technology
in first-generation ethanol as well. It can produce up to 3.0 gallons
of ethanol per bushel of corn with its proprietary BPX technology. BPX
also reduces energy needs for fermentation by 8 to 15 percent compared
to other ethanol production processes.

Last month, POET reported that farmers are now allowed to deliver
bales of biomass to the company’s storage site in Emmetsburg that will
supply the company’s future cellulosic ethanol plant. When operational,
the facility will accept 300,000 tons of biomass but for now, area
farmers harvested 56,000 tons of corn cobs, leaves, husks and some
stalk this fall.

Farmers had been waiting to deliver the biomass to POET while
guidelines for the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Biomass Crop
Assistance Program (BCAP) were finalized. Farmers on last week began
completing the application process, and they started delivering bales
soon after.

Last August, POET commenced construction of a new 22-acre
biomass
storage facility that will house up to 23,000 tons of biomass bales.
The facility will form part of the Project LIBERTY complex. Meanwhile,
potential suppliers of biomass to the plant have received
$100,000 in
incentive payments towards establishment of their own harvesting
systems. Farmers associated with the POET project will start the
collection of a 56,000 ton harvest of corn cobs and light stover, which
will be used as feedstock for the Project LIBERTY facility.

The facility will eventually consume 300,000 tons or more of
biomass, which according to POET’s released figures could be
sustainably harvested from a 468 square-mile area. By contrast, a 100
Mgy corn ethanol plant can be sustained by a 325 square-mile area using
POET’s process.

The Q Microbe is one of Qteros’ key competitive advantage as the
organism possesses the native ability to hydrolyze a broad array of
biomass and efficiently ferment all sugars into ethanol. As such,
Qteros is optimizing a micro-organism with native biological
capabilities versus attempting to engineer one from scratch. Specific
ethanol-producing attributes of the Q Microbe include: The preferential
digestion of oligomeric versus monomeric sugars which significantly
reduces pretreatment severity; the natural production all enzymes
required to digest biomass; and a natural ability to simultaneously
co-ferment all C5 and C6 sugars, thereby streamlining unit operations
and reducing costs. Additionally, the Q Microbe is an anaerobic
organism which minimizes production-related contamination risks
associated with aerobic production processes.

In January, Qteros and Praj Industries announced a
strategic
partnership to accelerate commercialization efforts for
industrial-scale cellulosic ethanol production.

Under the agreement, Qteros and Praj will collaborate on a highly
focused, multi-year development program with the objective of rapidly
developing and commercializing Process Design Packages (PDPs) that
enable cellulosic ethanol production using Qteros’ Q Microbe-enabled
CBP platform and Praj’s technology and expertise in the conversion of
biomass to ethanol. This unique licensing model serves to provide both
a highly efficient and low-cost solution to the market, while also
allowing Qteros and Praj to deploy their capital in an efficient and
leveraged manner. Importantly, the companies plan to retrofit Praj’s
existing pilot plant in Pune, India with Qteros’ technology platform,
which will then become the foundation for accelerated production
scaling as part of its commercial planning.

At the same time, Qteros announced that it closed the initial $22
million tranche in its Series C financing, with an undisclosed group of
new and existing investors. The completion of this $22M financing is
expected to provide sufficient funding to accelerate the Company’s
development and commercialization plans.

Solazyme

The company generally shies away from promoting itself as an algal
biofuels company, because it focuses its messaging around its products
rather than its process – same, by the way, as Budweiser.

Biggest news lately – a partnership with Qantas to develop renewable
jet fuels, and the widely-circulated expectation that Solazyme will
file its S-1 registration form for an
IPO by the end of March.

The Qantas deal? Solazyme announced that it has begun a
collaboration with Qantas, to pursue the potential for commercial
production of Solazyme’s microbial derived aviation fuel, Solajet, in
Australia. This represents the first collaboration in the Asia-Pacific
region to explore the use of Solajet in commercial aviation.
There is
currently a six billion liter a year demand for aviation fuel in
Australia.

Qantas is also working with another US company, Solena, to determine
the feasibility of using MSW for production of biojet fuel.

Solazyme’s unique renewable oil production process uses microalgae
to convert biomass directly into oil and other biomaterials, a process
that takes a matter of days and can be performed in standard commercial
fermentation facilities cleanly, quickly, and at low cost and large
scale. Its renewable oil and bioproducts technology has manufactured
tens of thousands of gallons of oil - in fact in 2010 alone we
will
produce approximately 100,000 gallons of oil. Solazyme’s latest
technology breakthrough on tailoring the oil by carbon chain length and
saturation offers a distinct advantage to its partners in the fuels and
chemicals industry. The oils that Solazyme produces can act as
replacements for fossil petroleum and plant oils and compounds in a
diverse range of products from renewable chemicals to cosmetics and
food ingredients.

Solazyme made the decision several years ago to grow heterotrophic
algae in the dark and harvest renewable oils – and have become the
unquestioned leader in the quest to make an integrated biorefinery
commercially successful in the production of renewable oils for fuels,
foods and other bio-based products. Along the ways they’ve racked up an
impressive array of partners, and won contracts to supply biofuels to
the US Department of Defense. More importantly, in every way, they have
personified throughout their organization what it means to be an
advanced bio-based company – in the ways that they have triumphed, and
in the ways they have faced adversity.”

Terrabon

The company’s technology is called MixAlco – an advanced
bio-refining technology used by Terrabon’s experienced staff of
chemical engineers to convert low-cost, readily available, non-food,
non-sterile biomass into valuable chemical precursors such as organic
acids, ketones and secondary alcohols that can be processed into
renewable hydrocarbon fuels.

The biomass used as feedstock includes biogenic municipal solid
waste (MSW), sewage sludge, forest product residues such as wood chips,
wood molasses and other wood waste, and non-edible energy crops such as
sorghum.

In January, Terrabon revealed that it has exceeded its goal of
producing 70 gallons of renewable gasoline per ton of MSW using its
patented acid fermentation technology, MixAlco, paired with
CRI/Criterion’s renewable fuel catalyst technologies. The company’s
demonstration plant in Bryan used cafeteria waste and paper shreddings
from Texas A&M University for the trial.

Verdezyne

Verdezyne is a privately held company developing and commercializing
novel genetically engineered microorganisms for use as “factories” to
manufacture chemicals and fuels, using renewable feedstocks.
Verdezyne’s unique microorganisms permit greener, cleaner and more cost
effective production of chemicals and fuels as compared with
traditional methods. The Company is commercializing its technology
through partnerships with leading chemical and fuel manufacturers.

Verdezyne is a product-focused company that is leveraging its
technology platform to optimize the metabolic pathways, microorganisms
and fermentation processes that enable economical production of
renewable fuels and chemicals, focusing in this stage of development on
biobased adipic acid (a platform chemical), and bioethanol, made from
C6 sugars, C5 sugars (biomass, cellulosic sugars), plant-based oils,
by-products from plant-based oil processing, paraffins

ZeaChem

ZeaChem combines the best of biochemical fermentation and
thermochemical processes into a hybrid process that achieves 40% higher
yield than other cellulosic processes. ZeaChem’s patented biorefining
process uses an acetogen – a naturally occurring species of bacteria
adapted to digest the tough carbon chains of cellulose – to extract the
maximum amount of energy available from the feedstock. ZeaChem offers
the highest yield, lowest production cost and lowest carbon emissions
profile of any known biorefining process

ZeaChem’s patented process offers the highest yield, at the lowest
cost, with the lowest fossil carbon footprint of any known biorefining
method. Incorporated in 2002, ZeaChem is headquartered in Lakewood,
Colorado and operates a research and development facility in Menlo
Park, California.

ZeaChem’s 250,000 gallon per year demonstration scale cellulosic
biorefinery is currently under construction in Boardman, Oregon.

In December, ZeaChem obtained a guaranteed maximum price, under the
Engineering, Procurement and Construction agreements with engineering
firm Burns & McDonnell, for construction of its demonstration
cellulosic ethyl acetate and ethanol plant in Boardman. The company
also announced that it has secured full construction funding for the
core facility. The $25 million grant from the U.S. DOE will be used to
fund the independent front and back-end cellulosic process components,
enabling ZeaChem to produce fuel grade ethanol as well as intermediate
chemicals from non-food related biomass.

The core unit of the biorefinery is currently under construction at
the site location in Boardman and foundations are being poured, and the
company will begin producing 250,000 gallons (annually) of cellulosic
ethanol in 2011.